Train the virtual trainer course for essential pain management (EPM) instructors: The Latin American experience

The COVID-19 pandemic created an urgent situation where new approaches were needed for continuing medical education, and virtual learning became the most popular option. Essential Pain Management (EPM) is a 4-modality educational program that provides a simple framework for addressing pain management. It teaches the RAT system (Recognize-Assess-Treat), and face-to-face courses comprise short lectures, case discussions in small groups, and brainstorming on pain management barriers and possible solutions. The four modalities are: 1. EPM-Lite (EPM-L): 4-hour workshop for medical/nursing students;2. EPM-Workshop (EPM-W): Full-day course for healthcare workers;3. EPM-Instructors-Workshop (EPM-I): Half-day course for training instructors;4. Standard-EPM-Program (EPM-SP): Incorporates both EPM-W and EPM-I and is taught over three days. EPM-W is taught on Day 1, EPM-I on Day 2, and 1-4 concurrent EPM-W courses are taught by the new instructors on Day 3. In order to continue the multiplying effect of the EPM program during this COVID-19 pandemic, we ran a Train the Virtual Trainer course for EPM instructors (TVT-EPM-I), the first in the Latin American (LA) region. The TVT-EPM-I was a 6-hour Zoom meeting, convened by five EPM LA instructors and delivered to seventeen anesthesiologists from nine LA countries (Honduras, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Mexico), followed by two EPM-L courses taught by the new instructors. Teaching the technical aspects was challenging during the TVT-EPM-I, including screen sharing, splitting into small groups for case discussion and interaction, use mute/unmute, video on/off, chat, raise-hand, etc. We received excellent feedback, and the participants reported a high level of satisfaction and eagerness to run EPM courses using the virtual modality. Our experience demonstrates that, despite the limitations of virtual teaching, it is possible to continue the multiplying effect of the EPM program in the LA region by implementing the virtual training of EPM instructors. [Table Presented]. [Figure Presented].